Restoring programs after operating system failure

Abstract

A state restoration unit tracks opening and closing of programs within a computer operating system. Responsive to detecting opening and closing of programs, a state restoration structure is updated. After the computer operating system restarts from a failure, the state restoration structure is accessed. The state restoration unit restores those of the programs indicated as open in the state restoration structure.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 tracking opening and closing of programs within a computer operating system; 
 updating a state restoration structure based, at least in part, on said tracking opening and closing of the programs within the computer operating system; 
 after the computer operating system restarts from a failure,
 accessing the state restoration structure; 
 determining that the state restoration structure comprises an indication of a program, wherein the indication of the program comprises a name of the program and location of the program; 
 determining that operations for booting the computer operating system were executed in response to failure of the computer operating system based on said determining that the state restoration structure comprises the indication of the program; and 
 restoring those of the programs indicated as open in the state restoration structure, wherein said restoring those of the programs indicated as open in the state restoration structure comprises generating a system call with the name of the program and the location of the program to launch the program, wherein the name of the program and the location of the program are read from the state restoration structure. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said tracking opening and closing of programs within the computer operating system comprises:
 detecting an operating system call to the computer operating system, wherein the operating system call indicates the program; and 
 determining that the operating system call will cause the computer operating system to open the program. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein said detecting the operating system call to the computer operating system comprises receiving a notification of the operating system call from the computer operating system. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , wherein said updating the state restoration structure comprises storing the name and the location of the program, as well as one of a name and a location of a document presented by the program, a uniform resource locator that links to the document presented by the program, and a process identifier associated with the program. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said updating the state restoration structure comprises one of indicating, in the state restoration structure, the programs that are opened by the computer operating system and removing, from the state restoration structure, the programs that are closed by the computer operating system. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said generating the system call to launch the program comprises:
 generating the system call with additional parameters associated with the program, wherein the additional parameters associated with the program comprises at least one of a name and a location of a document to be presented by the program, and a uniform resource locator that links to the document to be presented by the program; and 
 providing the system call to the computer operating system. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said tracking the opening and closing of programs within the computer operating system comprises:
 detecting an operating system call to the computer operating system, wherein the operating system call indicates a second program; and 
 determining that the operating system call will cause the computer operating system to close the second program. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein said updating the state restoration structure comprises removing an indication of the second program from the state restoration structure, based on said determining that the operating system call will cause the computer operating system to close the second program. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 identifying, from the state restoration structure, a plurality of programs that were open prior to the failure of the computer operating system, wherein the plurality of programs includes the program; and 
 presenting an interface for selectively opening the plurality of programs that were open prior to the failure of the computer operating system, wherein said generating the system call with the name of the program and the location of the program to launch the program is responsive to a selection of the program via the interface. 
 
     
     
       10. A computer program product for restoring programs after operating system failure, the computer program product comprising:
 a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to, 
 track opening and closing of programs within a computer operating system; 
 update a state restoration structure based, at least in part, on the computer readable program code tracking opening and closing of the applications within the computer operating system; and 
 after a computer operating system restart from a failure, determine that the state restoration structure comprises an indication of a program, wherein the indication of the program comprises a name of the program and location of the program; 
 determine that operations for booting the computer operating system were executed in response to failure of the computer operating system based on a determination that the state restoration structure comprises the indication of the program; 
 use the state restoration structure to restore those of the programs indicated as open in the state restoration structure after the computer operating system restarts from a failure, wherein the program code configured to use the state restoration structure to restore those of the programs indicated as open in the state restoration structure comprises the program code configured to generate a system call with the name of the program and the location of the program to launch the program, wherein the name of the program and the location of the program are read from the state restoration structure. 
 
     
     
       11. The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the computer readable program code configured to track opening and closing of programs within the computer operating system comprises the computer readable program code configured to:
 detect an operating system call to the computer operating system, wherein the operating system call indicates the program; and 
 determine that the operating system call will cause the computer operating system to open the program. 
 
     
     
       12. The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the computer readable program code configured to update the state restoration structure comprises the computer readable program configured to store at least one of the name and the location of the program, as well as one of a name and a location of a document presented by the program, a uniform resource locator that links to the document presented by the program, and a process identifier associated with the program. 
     
     
       13. The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the computer readable program code configured to update the state restoration structure comprises one of the computer readable program code configured to indicate, in the state restoration structure, the programs that are opened by the computer operating system and the computer readable program code configured to remove, from the state restoration structure, the programs that are closed by the computer operating system. 
     
     
       14. The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein the computer readable program code configured to generate the system call with the name of the program and the location of the program to launch the program comprises the computer readable program code configured to:
 generate the system call with additional parameters associated with the program, wherein the additional parameters comprise at least one of a name and a location of a document to be presented by the program, and a uniform resource locator that links to the document to be presented by the program; and 
 provide the system call to the computer operating system. 
 
     
     
       15. An apparatus comprising:
 a processor; 
 a network interface coupled with the processor; and 
 a state restoration unit operable to,
 track opening and closing of programs within a computer operating system; 
 update a state restoration structure based, at least in part, on the state restoration unit tracking opening and closing of the programs within the computer operating system; 
 after the computer operating system restarts from a failure, access the state restoration structure;
 determine that the state restoration structure comprises an indication of a program, wherein the indication of the program comprises a name of the program and location of the program; 
 determine that operations for booting the computer operating system were executed in response to failure of the computer operating system based on a determination that the state restoration structure comprises the indication of the program; and 
 restore those of the programs indicated as open in the state restoration structure, wherein the state restoration unit operable to restore those of the programs indicated as open in the state restoration structure comprises the restoration unit being operable to generate the system call with the name of the program and the location of the program to launch the program, wherein the name of the program and the location of the program are read from the state restoration structure. 
 
 
 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the state restoration unit comprises computer readable storage media.